ARBE1305 Assignment 3: Construction Techniques Report

Detailed Brief & Checklist

Assignment objectives

On completion of this assignment the student should be able to:

1. Identify site and building characteristics based on architectural and engineering drawings.

2. Apply reasonable construction techniques to a low-rise commercial/public building

3. Compare the feasibility of different construction techniques and recommend the most appropriate technical solutions to a low-rise commercial/public building.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Usage instructions

You may use GenAI tools under the following guidelines:

Permitted Actions:

Idea Review: You may use GenAI tools to check your independent idea generation.

Suitable prompts following this principle might include:

“Are the following foundation methods suitable for consideration in a site with characteristics including …..”

“How feasible are the following flooring systems for a building with these characteristics …”

Prohibited uses:

Outsourcing Report Writing

The following prompt actions are prohibited:

Copying and pasting (including reproducing) any part of the assignment brief into an AI tool prompt field.

Uploading assessment or course materials to an AI tool.

Outsourcing Idea Generation

You should develop your ideas independently of AI first. Do not use AI to start your assignment.

Outsourcing Research and Evidence Gathering. Output from GenAI is derived from and produced from existing sources. GenAI output should not be:

Referenced as an information source.

Used in quotations in your work.

Copied in part or whole any way into your work.

Plagiarism: Ensure all sources are properly cited, including any course materials and AI tools, following appropriate referencing style. [https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/AI- tools/using#s-lib-ctab-22539554-4]

Assignment Scenario:

You are a construction manager working for a construction firm. One of the projects you are working on is a Multi-Arts Pavilion, Speers Point, NSW. The project is at early conceptual design phase and a set of Architectural drawings is the only information available to you at this stage. You are required to prepare a construction feasibility study report for the client. The report is aimed to enable the client to firstly, understand technical options available for foundation and flooring systems; and secondly, inform the client of the most appropriate technical solutions in order to develop a project budget.

Assignment Checklist

You are encouraged to use the following structure in developing the report:

1. Table of contents

Develop a Table of Contents which outlines the sections in your report.

2. Executive Summary

Include an introduction to the client outlining what the report contains and a summary of key findings and recommendations.

3. Site/Building characteristics

Identify the specific characteristics or features of the building (materials, functionality, etc.) and site conditions (soil conditions, vegetation, ground conditions, etc.) based upon the set of drawings provided to you*. Discuss the associated construction limitations or implications of the identified building/site features.

* The drawings are available via the Canvas course site.

Building Foundation

Discuss available foundation methods for the project by comparing at least two (2) options of building foundation types that are suitable and provide a recommended foundation type for the project including sufficient information about the construction options (you can include graphical information if it helps) with a consideration of the building characteristics and site conditions identified above comprehensive discussion of advantages and disadvantages of each option related to building/site conditions in order to help the client’s decision-making process recommendation and justification for the feasibility of proposed method.

identification of relevant technologies/products to support recommendation

You will also need to compare the MAP project with another case study from Week 5 (select any from Canvas course site<Modules<week 5 exercises). Discuss the differences in site conditions and building characteristics and how these impact on the suitability of a foundation method.

Flooring system

Following on from the above discussion on foundation methods, discuss available flooring systems for the project: Compare at least two (2) options of building flooring systems including sufficient information about the construction options with a consideration of the building characteristics, site conditions and foundation systems identified above comprehensive discussion of advantages and disadvantages of each option related to building/site conditions and foundation system in order to help the client’s decision- making process graphical information such as photos and/ or 2D or 3D hand sketches (CAD drawings are optional) recommendation and justification for the feasibility of proposed construction techniques.

identification of relevant technologies/products to support recommendation

You will also need to compare the MAP project with another case study from Week 5 (select any from Canvas course site<Modules<week 5 exercises). Discuss the differences in site conditions and building characteristics and how these impact on the suitability of a flooring system.

4. Conclusion and recommendations

Summarise your findings and provide recommendations on a foundation method and flooring system.

All of these elements need to be compiled into a cohesivereport.

Set of Architectural drawings are given in the ‘Assessment’ section of Canvas.

Present the report in a professional style

Support your discussion, arguments and justifications with references using and citing relevant and credible sources. You can choose to use any referencing system as long as it is used consistently (for eg. APA, Harvard, etc).

Think about the general readability of your report. If you show a diagram or table, there should be at least a small explanation of what it shows.

Page limit is 15 pages maximum (including references).

Please consider the marking rubric, and in particular the weightings of the elements before commencing the assignment.